I had my wedding dress made. It was couture (apparently - I had no idea what that meant at the time). I was happy to buy off the peg or second hand but I simply could not find a wedding dress with sleeves in 2006. I have really fat arms - I'm fat all over - and my personal sense of modesty meant that I only wanted to show so much skin. I was having a church wedding after all. My mum was really supportive and went dress shopping with me all over the country, including overnight stays to a shop that specialised in large sizes you could try on. You STILL couldn't get dresses with sleeves. We found a very nice young designer who took the classic style I wanted, added some creative touches and used the most wonderful silk satin to make the dress. First she made a muslin then she made the dress and hand embroidered it, stitching on little pearls and the odd blue crystal. It was about $4000 (at today's conversion) but cuss it all to tarnation, I was my heaviest ever and I just wanted to look nice at my wedding. My mother paid, and I let her because it was important to her. It did mean I got the gorgeous material I loved, which was a large part of the cost. Looking at my photos now I'm so glad I covered my arms.

I so don't get the obsession with strapless dresses. Sure, if you want to rock a strapless dress, rock on girl. But ya know...sleeves and straps aren't like evil. I hate wearing strapless, I'm always worried its about to slide down, or I feel like popping out of it. Plus I find strapless bras incredibly uncomfortable (though according to one of my married friends, some wedding dresses are designed so you don't wear a bra? I dunno...that's one day I'm gonna need the girls looking their best), so strapless...not so much for me. My BFF did strapless bridesmaids dresses for us, but then decided to have us all attach spaghetti straps to them (they came with the dresses), so at least I didn't have to worry about it slipping down, still had to wear the strapless bra. Her dress was also strapless, and she said she did worry that it was going to slide down at some point. It didn't, and she looked fantastic, but she says that's one of the few things she'd change. She felt she got "talked into" strapless because it's what all brides want, according to the shop person. And what most of the brides she'd known had done so....she did it. Never been more thankful for my rebellious attitude. I don't care what anyone else did, I care what I'm doing.

Partner and I are both thrilled to have dresses with straps! Real straps that will hide our bra straps!

I wore a strapless dress to my homecoming one year.... never again. Wanna know why? It was too big for me in a certain area. I spent the entire night when I was dancing pressing myself to my then-boyfriend. And did I mention it had a slight train that people stepped on? I was just waiting for that thing to come down....

I must be one of the few people on whom strapless dresses ride up. I've never had a problem with strapless dresses falling down, but straps drive me crazy. My shoulders are really low and thin (relatively; I'm not skinny by almost anyone's estimation), and all the straps I have for tank tops, sleeveless dresses, bras, etc. fall off of my shoulders.

I made my dress. Broke college student whose weight was fluctuating on the heavy side. Simple white sheathe dress with small side slits. I made a lace jacket that came to my knees and carried a small drawstring purse on my wrist. Shoes came from payless. All told, less that $100 for the whole thing and a long, long lesson on putting in proper bust darts.

I so don't get the obsession with strapless dresses. Sure, if you want to rock a strapless dress, rock on girl. But ya know...sleeves and straps aren't like evil. I hate wearing strapless, I'm always worried its about to slide down, or I feel like popping out of it. Plus I find strapless bras incredibly uncomfortable (though according to one of my married friends, some wedding dresses are designed so you don't wear a bra? I dunno...that's one day I'm gonna need the girls looking their best), so strapless...not so much for me. My BFF did strapless bridesmaids dresses for us, but then decided to have us all attach spaghetti straps to them (they came with the dresses), so at least I didn't have to worry about it slipping down, still had to wear the strapless bra. Her dress was also strapless, and she said she did worry that it was going to slide down at some point. It didn't, and she looked fantastic, but she says that's one of the few things she'd change. She felt she got "talked into" strapless because it's what all brides want, according to the shop person. And what most of the brides she'd known had done so....she did it. Never been more thankful for my rebellious attitude. I don't care what anyone else did, I care what I'm doing.

Partner and I are both thrilled to have dresses with straps! Real straps that will hide our bra straps!

I think this is something that a lot of people don't realise - particularly with the rage of cheap knockoffs from Asia which are now available.

A properly constructed strapless dress has boning through the bodice and is specifically designed to act as undergarment as well as dress. THey suppose the frame of the body and the breast, creating a smooth line over the torso, and appropriate lift and support for your breasts. Whether it i s laced, buttoned or ziped, wearing a bra underneath is completely unnecessary if it has been properly fitted to you. Because of its structure and fit, it won't ride up or slip down. They can be stiff to move around in - that is the payoff for support.

Most off the shelf dresses (bridesmaid oo other formal dresses) if under say $500 don't contain that supportive bodicework. Its a good chucnk of the purchase price - and boy does it make a difference, particuarly on bigger girls where there is more to support. A lovely friend of mine who is quite large got married the other year, and from the photos I could tell that her dress was a knock off - the design was lovely but it didn't sit on her or hold her like it should have, and while I'm sure budget was a concern (wedding dresses are expensive!) it was a shame as I know hoe much lovelier a properly constructed dress would have made her look.

I so don't get the obsession with strapless dresses. Sure, if you want to rock a strapless dress, rock on girl. But ya know...sleeves and straps aren't like evil. ...

I know why, and it isn't the consumer driving this.

From the manufacturers perspective, a strapless dress with corset lacing is the easiest dress to fit on a woman. You don't have to worry about wide or narrow shoulders, wide or skinny arms, shoulders held back for forward, sloping or square shoulders. With the corset lacing, the sample model will also technically fit a wider range of sizes. That means it will look nice on a larger percentage of shoppers (at least from the front), and a bride that doesn't have to pay from alternations will pay more up front.

I don't think sleeves on wedding dresses will be easily available until more woman say No to the strapless. I have some friends who bought strapless just because it was all that was available.

Please excuse the scrapbook aspect, it was all the rage in my group back then.

The back:

The front:

I think it was $125 on Ebay and shipping. I couldn't say no as it was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. It fit without any alterations! I have other pictures where I'm holding my arms normally, I swear I didn't walk around like that all day, these two pics just photographed the best when I was trying to find some to share here.

I'm just disappointed that the wind came up so instead of being outdoors the reception moved into my parents' garage and house. It cleaned up nicely and it was free, but I wanted outdoors by the lilac bushes with the small fountain and gazebo. I could have married later in the year hoping for better weather but really, if I want lilacs that's only April, and any time of year here can be hit by frost, rain, wind, dust storms, etc. Just glad we had the backup plan.

My dress budget is $100. That's very low in today's wedding world, but not undoable by any means. The first dresses I looked at were strapless - then I came to realize that strapless just isn't an option. I would not be comfortable, and on my budget, I would just be asking for a wardrobe malfunction in a dress with which I couldn't wear a strapped bra. I've found quite a few online that I really like that are within my budget, and contain straps that will hide my bra. I want the girls looking their best on my wedding day - but I don't want everyone to see them! :-P

Logged

"Some of the most wonderful people are the ones who don't fit into boxes." -Tori Amos

This may be a bit OT but, since we have so many wonderful Geeks and Nerds here that I thought it might be relevant.

In the 1950s, an engineer named Charles E. Siem wrote an article titled, 'A Structural Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown'. Siem specialized in the construction of bridges. If you search on the title you'll get many good hits.

Not strapless and not much structure but we were getting married on the beach in the Florida keys so I wanted something lightweight and swishy that I wouldn't trip over in the sand. I wore a pair of skin-colored shorts that were really just the control-top of a pair of pantyhose, in case of stray wind.

Not strapless and not much structure but we were getting married on the beach in the Florida keys so I wanted something lightweight and swishy that I wouldn't trip over in the sand. I wore a pair of skin-colored shorts that were really just the control-top of a pair of pantyhose, in case of stray wind.

I love my dress and my husband loved the price!

And so pretty and appropriate for a beach wedding! I went to a beach wedding once where the bride was in a full ball gown. Apart from just looking odd wearing a ball gown on the beach, she looked so uncomfortable. She had to hold it up the whole time, and the train collected sand and sticks. She seemed much more focused on negotiating the dress than on getting married.